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View synonyms for

starve

[ stahrv ]

verb (used without object)

starved, starving.
  1. to die or perish from lack of food or nourishment.
  2. to be in the process of perishing or suffering severely from hunger.
  3. to suffer from extreme poverty and need.
  4. to feel a strong need or desire:

    The child was starving for affection.

  5. Chiefly British Dialect. to perish or suffer extremely from cold.
  6. Obsolete. to die.


verb (used with object)

starved, starving.
  1. to cause to starve; kill, weaken, or reduce by lack of food.
  2. to subdue, or force to some condition or action, by hunger:

    to starve a besieged garrison into a surrender.

  3. to cause to suffer for lack of something needed or craved.
  4. Chiefly British Dialect. to cause to perish, or to suffer extremely, from cold.

starve

/ ɑː /

verb

  1. to die or cause to die from lack of food
  2. to deprive (a person or animal) or (of a person, etc) to be deprived of food
  3. informal.
    intr to be very hungry
  4. foll byof or for to deprive or be deprived (of something necessary), esp so as to cause suffering or malfunctioning

    the engine was starved of fuel

  5. trfoll byinto to bring (to) a specified condition by starving

    to starve someone into submission

  6. archaic.
    to be or cause to be extremely cold
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • ˈٲ, noun
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Other Word Forms

  • 󲹱-ٲ adjective
  • 󲹱-ٲiԲ adjective
  • -ٲ adjective
  • ܲ·ٲ adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of starve1

First recorded before 1000; Middle English sterven, Old English steorfan “to die”; cognate with German sterben
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Word History and Origins

Origin of starve1

Old English steorfan to die; related to Old Frisian sterva to die, Old High German sterban to die
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Synonym Study

See hungry.
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

“I appeal to the warring parties: Call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace!”

From

One year later, our trauma not subsiding, we decided to keep the phantom bugs starving in the BB bag and buy another Rimowa.

From

"Call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace."

From

Many adult birds have been poisoned in a major toxic algae bloom, and now young birds are starving too.

From

“So I put everything down, except my lunchbox because I was starving, but I grabbed the four kids’ hands.”

From

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starvation wagesstarveling